Belatedly, I remember that I should have looked for flowers or ornamental plants. When I do look, I realize that I should have started with 635.9 Flowers and ornamental plants. The Relative Index entries "Flower gardening," "Flowers--gardening," and "Ornamental plants" all point to 635.9. I select 635.9, but before I can use 635.9 as base number, I need to click CANCEL in the Create Built Number box, which still holds 635:

Then I can click START in the Create built number box for 635.9 Flowers and ornamental plants:

Among the standard subdivisions I see T1--09 History, geographic treatment, biography. I select it because my work has geographic treatment and click ADD. Now I have more of the number that I want:

I find and select T2--764 Texas and click ADD; then I get an error message:

I belatedly recall that I need to find the add note in Table 1. First I must click the X in the red circle in the Create built number box to delete + T1--09 History, geographic treatment, biography and revert to only the base number 635.9:

Now I can find and select T1--093-T1--099 Specific continents, countries, localities; extraterrestrial worlds, then click ADD to get the add note in the Create built number box along with T1--09:

Now when I find and select T2--764 Texas, then click ADD, I get the desired result:

The "then add further as follows" part of the add note allows me to add further to express that the book is a pictorial work. In the add table under T1--093-T1--099 Specific continents, countries, localities; extraterrestrial worlds I select 022 Illustrations (also known as T1--093-T1--099:022) and click ADD:

Now the number building process is complete. I can click SAVE and go on to review / revise the user terms that index the built number.

Note: We have encountered rare circumstances where the number building tool has become confused by multiple layers of backing out. If things go awry, you can always click CANCEL and do what you really meant to do in the first place.

First, let’s consider a work about castles in a specific area, The English Castle, 1066-1650. The record for 728.81 *Castles has an add footnote: "*Add as instructed under 721-729." We click START in the record for 728.81 to begin the number building process.

That leads to the add table at 721-729 Specific aspects of architecture:

Notation 09 in the add table (also known as 721-729:09) has notes, but none is an add note. We recognize from the notation (09) and the caption (History, geographic treatment, biography)--and from the parallel with 721-729:05-08 Standard subdivisions--that 721-729:09 represents T1--09 History, geographic treatment, biography. We search for the record for T1--09 in Table 1, then look at its subdivisions in the hierarchy box:

We select T1--093-T1--099 Specific continents, countries, localities; extraterrestrial worlds and read its many notes. We find the add note that will allow us to add from Table 2 Areas: "Add to base number T1--09 notation T2--3-T2--9 from Table 2, e.g., the subject in North America T1--097, in Brazil T1--0981 . . . ." We click ADD in the Create built number box, and the number building tool begins to build the number:

In accordance with the add note, the number building tool puts T2--3-T2--9 Specific continents, countries, localities; extraterrestrial worlds in the hierarchy box:

We find the Table 2 number for England (T2--42 England and Wales; the note at T2--421-T2--428 England says to class comprehensive works in T2--42). We click ADD. The number building tool finishes building the number:With the number building process complete for 728.810942 Castles--England and Wales, we can click SAVE and go on to review/revise the user terms that will index the record. (Note: the time period covered (1066-1650) is so long that it would not be useful to try to add further for time period.)

The record for728.37 *Separate houses also has the add footnote: "*Add as instructed under 721-729." We click START in the record for 728.37 to begin the number building process.

As before, that leads to the add table at 721-729 Specific aspects of architecture:

This time we are interested in notation 04 Special topics (721-729:04 Special topics). Notation 04 has an add note in the add table 721-729: "Add to 04 the numbers following 720.4 in 720.44-720.49, e.g., energy conservation 0472." Consequently, we select notation 04 in the add table and click ADD.

In accordance with the add note, subdivisions of 720.4 Special topics of architecture appear in the hierarchy box:

We select the record for 720.47 Architecture and the environment. It has the class-here note: "Class here green technology (environmental technology) [formerly 720.28], sustainable architecture." We click ADD.

The number building process is complete for 728.37047 Houses—architecture and the environment. We can click SAVE and go on to review/revise the user terms that will index the record.

December 31, 2012

A recent blog post on the rule of
three ended with an example that depended on the comprehensive number for Minor
Prophets. We quickly realized that we
shouldn’t let too much time pass before addressing comprehensive numbers, or alternatively,
numbers for comprehensive works.

Section 7.16 of the DDC Introduction explains that "comprehensive works
treat a subject from various points of view within a single discipline.
Comprehensive works may be stated or implied."
Comprehensive works that are made
explicit are, of course, easy to recognize.
When the class-elsewhere note at 005.82
Data encryption reads, "Class comprehensive works on electronic signatures
in 005.8" and the class-here note at 006.42
Optical pattern recognition reads "Class here comprehensive works on optical
pattern recognition and computer graphics," the presence of a comprehensive
works number is uncontroversial. But how
can one recognize an implied comprehensive works number?

See references play a major role in helping the user to identify
implied comprehensive works numbers. As
stated in section 7.20 of the Introduction, "see references lead from a stated
or implied comprehensive number for a concept to the component (subordinate)
parts of that concept in a different notational hierarchy." For example:

For air guided missile forces, see 358.42;
for naval guided missile forces, see 359.9817

The see references in this entry give evidence that 358.17 Guided
missile forces is the comprehensive works number for the subject in the
caption. Specific points of view (that
is, of air guided missile forces and of naval guided missile forces) are drawn
off to other numbers. At 358.42 Bombing
forces, we find air-to-underwater guided missile forces mentioned in the
including note and find air-to-surface guided missile forces and comprehensive
works on air guided missile forces mentioned in the class-here note. A see reference in this entry draws off
air-to-air guided missile forces in turn to 358.43 Pursuit and fighter
forces.

If we had a work on guided missile forces in general, it would be
classed in 358.17 Guided missile forces.
If, however, we had a work on air-to-surface guided missile forces,
air-to-underwater guided missile forces (both 358.42) and air-to-air guided
missile forces (358.43), we would use the comprehensive works number for air
guided missile forces, i.e., 358.42 Bombing forces. (We would also choose 358.42 over 358.43 by
the first-of-two rule.)

Section 7.20 of the Introduction continues: "throughout Table 2, see references (often in
footnote form) lead from the implied comprehensive number for a jurisdiction,
region, or feature to its subordinate parts in other classes." For example:

*For a specific
part of this jurisdiction, region, or feature, see the part and follow
instructions under —4–9

The Danube flows through or borders numerous countries, including
Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Moldova,
Ukraine, and Romania. Class numbers have
been designated specifically for the Danube River in Germany, i.e., T2—433 Bavaria (Bayern), and in
Austria, i.e., T2—43612 Lower Austria
(Niederösterreich). A work comparing
the Danube River in Germany, Austria, and Serbia
(T2—4971) should use the comprehensive works number for Danube River and be
classed in 949.6 Balkan Peninsula.

As just seen, numbers for (implicit) comprehensive works are given for many
geographic jurisdictions, regions, and features. Similarly, they are often given for time periods. For example, at 941.081 Reign of Victoria, 1837–1901, we have the note "Class here
19th century." In conjunction
with this comprehensive treatment of the 19th century in the British
Isles are also see references for portions of the 19th century
classed elsewhere: For 1800–1820, see
941.073; for 1820–1830, see 941.074; for 1830–1837, see 941.075 (referencing
941.073 Reign of George III, 1760–1820;
941.074 Reign of George IV, 1820–1830, and 941.075 Reign of William IV, 1830–1837). What if we have a work on the history of the
pre-Victorian reigns from 1800 to 1837?
Should it be classed in 941.081, the comprehensive number for the 19th
century, or should it be classed in 941.07
Period of House of Hanover, 1714–1837?
The
answer is 941.07 Period of House of
Hanover, 1714–1837, since this number is in the upward hierarchy for all of
the relevant time periods and since 941.081 Reign of Victoria, 1837–1901 covers none of that same time.

Numbers for comprehensive
works are also given for some combinations of subjects, especially when the
comprehensive works number overrides the first-of-two rule. An example of this situation occurs in
conjunction with the number for comprehensive works on midrange and personal
computers, 004.16 Personal computers,
even though 004.14 Midrange computers
comes first.

Statements here about the number that a work should be
classed in should be understood to address the assignment of the standard DDC
number, captured in the 082 field (Dewey Decimal Classification Number) of the
MARC bibliographic record. Numbers for
component parts of the subject that are not chosen as the standard number
should be considered for inclusion in the 083 field (Additional Dewey Decimal
Classification Number).

Add Local and Edit Local address two different circumstances that could
theoretically go awry in the number building tool (in reality, most of the
circumstances that go awry involve internal add tables):

When you have added notation, you may have found
that the number of zeros introducing standard subdivision notation is
incorrect, or that too many or two few of the digits in the notation that is
being added from show up in the number.
If this happens, click the Edit Local button, which appears just below
the Add button.

You might not be allowed to add notation that
you need to add. In this case, you will
have gotten an error message saying “No add instruction found to add this
number; consider using Add Local.” If
this happens, click the Add Local button, which will appear just below the Add
button (the Edit Local button will have been transformed into an Add Local
button).

This post shows you how to use Edit local to correct the number of
zeros used for a standard subdivision.
(We may post a demonstration on the use of Add local at a later date,
but frankly, the likelihood of your ever needing to use it with current DDC 23
data is slim.)

Let’s use the number-building tool to build 368.11009 for a history of
fire insurance. We start by
retrieving our base number 368.11 *Fire
insurance and then clicking Start.
Since 368.11 has an add instruction, “Add as instructed under 368.1–368.8,”
that span and its immediate subordinates are displayed in the hierarchy box,
and the internal add table under 368.1–368.8 is displayed in the Notes
box.

One of the entries in the add table is for 368.1-368.8:007-009 Standard subdivisions. The FAQ notes:

Right now, the number building tool
can only interpret add instructions under spans that feature a specific number
to which something is to be added, e.g., “Add to base number 338.47 notation
001-999.” In the case of standard
subdivision spans listed as entries in the schedules and Tables 1-6, you will
need to start with the base schedule or table number, and then add the notation
from Table 1.

Since there is no add
instruction here and moreover it’s a span, we’ll need to make note of the
number of zeros, and then navigate to T1—09
History, and click Add. We see that
the Add operation doesn’t take into account the information conveyed by the
standard subdivision entries in the add table under 368.1–368.8, i.e., that
standard subdivisions are on two zeros here:

Can we fix our number? Yes, by
clicking Edit Local. When we do so, we
are immediately confronted by a warning reflecting that the use of Edit Local
(and of Add Local) produces numbers that cannot be contributed for review by
the Dewey editorial team (and possible inclusion in WebDewey for worldwide
use).

Clicking on OK to proceed with Edit Local leads us to this display:

Note first that the history of how our number has been built now shows
that T1—09 is being added locally (because it needs to be edited locally, even
though it was added initially in the usual way); also a question mark appears
by our built number to indicate that the number-building process has used Add
Local and/or Edit Local at some point.
Below the components going into our number we find three lines that
permit us to alter the notation being added in different ways. The first, which allows the user to adjust
the number of zeros appearing at the beginning of the added notation, is the
one we expect to see used most often. In
this case, we need to add one additional zero before the (T1--)09
component. (Note that this line and the
last line refer to the number of zeros that need to be added, not to the number of zeros that need to be present.) When we click the 1-zero radio button, the
notation is adjusted (indeed, the user will see immediately the results of any
Edit Local operation):

Since this is the only adjustment we need to make, we can then click OK
(or if we wanted to get out of Edit Local without taking any action, we would
click the Cancel button next to the OK button):

September 20, 2012

Section
5.7 of the DDC Introduction addresses how to classify a work that includes more
than one subject in the same discipline:

5.7 A
work may include multiple subjects treated separately or in relation to one
another from the viewpoint of a single discipline. Use the following guidelines
in determining the best placement for the work:

(A) Class
a work dealing with interrelated subjects with the subject that is being acted upon.
This is called the rule of application, and takes precedence over any
other rule. For instance, class an analytical work dealing with Shakespeare's influence
on Keats with Keats. Similarly, class a work on the influence of the Great Depression
on 20th century American art with American art.

Here is introduced the rule of
application, a rule that guides the classifier in classifying a work on
interrelated subjects in which one subject can be said to act upon the
other. The rule states that such a work
should be classed with the subject acted upon.
(The characterization of the rule of application in the Glossary—"The rule instructing that works about the application of one subject to a
second subject or the influence of one subject on another subject are
classified with the second subject"—indicates
that the single discipline context in which the rule of application is presented
in the Introduction is not defining/restrictive.) The Introduction also makes clear that, if
multiple rules apply to the classification of a work and one of those rules is
the rule of application, it "trumps" (takes precedence over) all other rules. (In fact, the pre-eminence of the rule of
application is the motivation for starting our review of the rules here.)

The rule of application is also
mentioned in section 8.12 of the Introduction, where we learn that the table of
preference at the beginning of Table 1 is overruled by ("yields to") the rule
of application. For example, "by the
rule of application, teaching financial management in hospital administration
is classed in 362.110681, not 362.11071, even though notation 07 is above
notation 068 in the table of preference."
We have three subjects here:
hospitals, financial management, and teaching. Teaching is applied to financial management,
while financial management is applied to hospitals, financial management constituting
one aspect of hospital administration.
Since hospitals are the core subject acted upon, we start with 362.11 Hospitals and related institutions. We then add standard subdivision T1—0681 Organization and financial
management because this is the subject element that acts upon hospitals.

Perhaps the most common applications
of the rule of application concern the philosophy of a subject or the history
of a subject. Such works are classed in
the subject, with standard subdivisions T1—01 Philosophy and theory or T1—09 History, geographic treatment, biography added to express
philosophy or history, respectively. Thus
we have 109 for the history of philosophy and 901 for the philosophy of history. (Imagine if the rule of application were
reversed and the philosophy of all subjects was to be classed in the 100s and
the history of all subjects in the 900s!)

Given the rule of application:

Works
on Shakespeare's influence on Keats are classed in the number for Keats (821.7 English poetry—1800–1837) rather
than in the number for Shakespeare (822.33
William Shakespeare under 822.3
Drama of Elizabethan period, 1558–1625).

Works
on the use of data mining to support business decisions are classed within
business, in a subdivision of 658.4038
Information management ("Class here gathering of information by management
or use in managerial decision making; information resources, knowledge
management") rather than in 006.312 Data
mining, its interdisciplinary home within computer science. The specific number for data mining to support business decisions is 658.403802856312, built with the base number 658.4038, plus T1—0285 Computer applications, plus the
numbers following 00 in 006.312, following the add instruction at T1—0285.

Works
on the chemistry of hydrocarbon combustion are classed in the number for
hydrocarbons (547.01 Hydrocarbons)
rather than in the number for combustion (541.361
Combustion). Numbers for specific
kinds of compounds identified by component elements allow for addition from the
internal add table under 547, where we find 0453–0458 Specific topics of physical chemistry and the add
instruction to add to 045 the numbers following 541.3 in 541.33–541.38. The specific number for the chemistry of hydrocarbon combustion
therefore is 547.0104561.

Works
on the fractography of glass are classed in the materials science number for
glass (620.144 Glass) rather than in
the number for fractography (620.1126
Resistance to fracture (Fracture mechanics)). Numbers for specific kinds of materials allow
for addition from the internal add table under 620.16–620.19, where we find 1–9 Specific properties and nondestructive
testing and the add instruction to add the numbers following 620.112 in
620.1121–620.1129. The specific number
for fractography of glass therefore
is 620.1446.

Works
on obedience training for retrievers are classed in the number for retrievers (636.7527 Retrievers) rather than in the
number for obedience training (636.0887
Pets ["Class here obedience training").
Numbers for specific breeds of dogs allow for addition of notation from
the internal add table under 636.1–636.8, where we find 35 Training. The specific
number for obedience training for retrievers
therefore is 636.752735. (The decision to class obedience training for
retrievers with retrievers rather than with obedience training is reinforced by
the rule of zero, which we will look at later.)

It
is not by accident or mere coincidence in the final three examples that
provision has been made for building numbers that express the complex subject
we were interested in representing.
These reflect a pattern common throughout the DDC in which the rule of
application has, in effect, been built into the DDC. A follow-up post will give further examples
of where the rule of application is woven into the schedules.

August 29, 2012

In Rebecca's report on EPC Meeting 135, she mentioned that the agenda included a proposal on some modifications to the work methods of the Decimal Classification Editorial Policy Committee (EPC). At Meeting 135, EPC approved a new approach to the review of additions and changes to the DDC that would permit some routine updates to be automatically implemented and then reported to EPC after the fact. Examples of such updates include certain name changes for geographic areas (ones submitted by the national library with jurisdiction over the area and confirmed by the editors), notes that follow a standard pattern found elsewhere in a schedule or table, and changes in note types.

We also closed off the period for the administration of Malas Zénāwi(the Prime Minister of Ethiopia who died on 20 August 2012) in the class-here note under 963.0721. We decided against the introduction of a new historical period in Ethiopia at this time; the acting prime minister is expected to stay in place until new elections in 2015. If we had recommended the introduction of a new historical period, we would have sought EPC’s electronic approval in advance of introducing such a change.

The changes to T2—714139 and 963.0721 are already in WebDewey, which is updated on a daily basis. We also post selected updates to the tables and schedules on the Dewey web site on the Updates to DDC 23 page. Minor corrections plus updates to the Relative Index and mapped headings are only available in WebDewey. New built numbers that only appear in the index are available in WebDewey and dewey.info.

August 23, 2012

Forty-two librarians from fifteen countries attended the International Dewey Users Meeting held in conjunction with the World Library and Information Conference (IFLA) in Helsinki on Tuesday, 14 August 2012. I kicked the session off with a presentation on four topics loosely coupled under the heading of "new views of the DDC": Dewey linked data, the virtual 200 Religion browser, new proposed notation for expressing an archaeological viewpoint (comments are due on the proposal by 15 September), and the new user contribution / number building module in WebDewey (the beta version of the module is scheduled to be installed in the English-language version of WebDewey in late September). Juli Beall followed with a presentation on recent and proposed updates to Islam and Islamic Law (comments are due on the proposal by 15 September). Elise Conradi (National Library of Norway) discussed the history and challenges associated with the development of the new Norwegian translation. Ingrid Berg (National Library of Sweden) demonstrated WebDewey Search, an end-user browsing tool based on the look and feel of WebDewey and funded by Deutsche Nationalbibliothek, National Library of Norway, and National Library of Sweden with the permission of OCLC. Finally, Karin Kleiber (Austrian National Library) gave an update on the activities of the European DDC Users’ Group (EDUG). Karin is the current chair of EDUG. Unfortunately, we ran out of time before she could link to the rich store of information on the EDUG web site—here is the link. It is important to note here that the proposal for explicit notation to express the archaeological viewpoint in Dewey was a direct result of a recommendation from the EDUG 930 Working Group.

As it turns out, this happened to be the 10th annual meeting of Dewey users held in conjunction with IFLA. At the time of the first meeting (then known as the Dewey Translators Meeting and held at Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin in conjunction with IFLA 2003), the German team had recently started using the Pansoft translation system that is now used by most translation teams, we were just introducing an XML distribution format based on our proprietary data markup (ESS XML), WebDewey only ran on the OCLC Connexion platform, and what we call "linked open data" today didn’t exist. I managed to find the agenda for that first meeting in Berlin (thank you, OCLC data cloud!) and was immediately struck (even with the level of technological change over the last ten years) by the similarities between the topics of interest back then and today. At the time of the 2003 meeting, we were getting ready to publish DDC 22; I gave an update on the status of the English-language standard editions. Juli followed with a discussion of the translation guidelines for DDC 22 and Abridged Edition 14. The late Magda Heiner-Freiling discussed the German model for the use of Dewey in national bibliographies. Diane Vizine-Goetz (OCLC Research) discussed ESS XML (the predecessor to our current MARCXML distribution format). There were also two roundtables: one on methodologies for terminology association between Dewey and controlled vocabularies, and another consisting of short reports from the Arabic, French, German, Icelandic, Italian, Norwegian, and Russian translation teams (with the exception of the Greek translation, representatives from each of the aforementioned teams plus the Swedish team were present at this year’s meeting in Helsinki).

We are looking forward with excitement to the next ten years of working together with the worldwide Dewey community—see you in Singapore next August at IFLA 2013!

July 17, 2012

At the request of the European DDC Users’ Group (EDUG) 930 Archaeology Working Group, we have studied the provision for special notation to represent treatment of topics and places from an archaeological viewpoint. We have always intended that the archaeology of a specific subject outside of 900 go with the subject (plus the appropriate subdivision of Table 1—09 if applicable), but we realize that there are currently no specific instructions to this end beyond standard Dewey practice. We propose to make this instruction specific, and to extend it through the addition of specific notation in Table 1 and under 930-990. We also propose small adjustments to existing instructions under 930.1, 609, and 338.09.

A draft outlining the specific proposals is available on the discussion paper page of the Dewey web site. Please comment directly to this blog entry or by one of the alternative methods given with the draft by 15 September 2012.

This EPC meeting had a strong people component to it—and we’re not talking Table 1—08 Groups of people here.

EPC welcomed two new committee members: Pat Riva, Coordinator of the Monographs Section in the Cataloguing Directorate for Heritage Collections (Direction du traitement documentaire des collections patrimoniales) at Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ) in Montreal, Canada, and Gert de Jager, Subject Cataloguer, Unisa Library, University of South Africa in Pretoria, South Africa. Incidentally, Pat is also speaking at the Florence seminar.

EPC celebrated the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee by re-electing Caroline Kent (British Library) as chair and electing Jonathan Furner (UCLA, but, as you may recall, formerly an assistant editor of the DDC) as vice-chair (you can take the Englishman out of the British Isles, but fortunately the accent lingers on). Jonathan replaces Anne Robertson (Australian Committee on Cataloguing), who had served the maximum number of years as vice-chair.

EPC passed a resolution congratulating and offering best wishes to Jay Jordan, outgoing president and CEO of OCLC. As the resolution noted, Jay has “unfailingly [advocated] and [supported] the mission of the Dewey Decimal Classification;” we trust he will remain “a Friend of Dewey.”

Where’s the picture of all these people? you ask. Remember our trusty photographer Giles Martin, who retired from his position as assistant editor of the DDC last year and returned home to Australia? The lack of an official photograph of the EPC meeting is only one of the more visible losses (pun intended) we have suffered with Giles’ relocation to Australia. (But note that we have not discontinued him! Giles is still contributing to DDC maintenance and development.)

The agenda included proposals related to modifications to EPC work methods and DDC development (for example, how can data from WorldCat be used to inform development of the DDC?), new editorial rules for segmentation and for oceans and seas, and updates to the classification. More particularly, a new standard subdivision for archaeology is coming; small updates to the classification in Table 2 Geographic Areas were approved, as were updates in 004-006 Computer science and 330 Economics. The committee considered discussion papers on Islamic law; the treatment of marriage, partnerships, and unions in the DDC; and the possible adoption of a new taxonomic basis for 583-584 Angiosperms. The committee approved follow-up discussion and consultation on all but the last.

The committee had a wide-ranging discussion on engaging with Dewey users and the role of social media. The agenda also included presentations on modeling topics in the DDC, DDC research, DDC training, edition-level metadata, Dewey linked data, data provenance, upcoming enhancements to WebDewey 2.0, and the virtual chronological/regional religion browser.

Two follow-up electronic meetings have been scheduled: Meeting 135A will take place the first week in October and will focus on Islamic law, while Meeting 135B has been scheduled for the first week in November to consider a revised proposal on marriage, partnerships, and unions. The next face-to-face meeting of EPC—Meeting 136—will be held at OCLC headquarters in Dublin, Ohio, 13–14 May 2013.

February 2015

OCLC

Legal information:All copyright rights in the Dewey Decimal Classification system are owned by OCLC. Connexion, DDC, Dewey, Dewey Decimal Classification, OCLC, WebDewey, and WorldCat are registered trademarks of OCLC. All other service names are registered with their respective companies.